Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Jhonny Peralta: will vigilante players punish him?

Jhonny Peralta paid his debt to his society, the Major Baseball League (MBL). Peralta served a 50 game suspension during the 2013 season and lost $1.6 of his $6 million salary. Peralta has just signed a free agent deal with the St. Louis Cardinals for fours years $53 million:
2014 $15.5
2015 $15
2016 $12.5
2017 $10.

It looks like Peralta made a good business decision. He lost $1.6 million but performed well enough to more than make up for that. Maybe Peralta would have performed that well without performance enhancing drugs (PED), which may have included steroids. Maybe not. The gamble paid off for Peralta.

This was the sentiment of multiple MBL players who expressed themselves in no more than 140 characters at twitter.com, the preferred mouth running service of twits everywhere. Clearly, the players have turned on each other and they can never go back to the solidarity that brought them both financial success and pervasive use of PED.

One of those objecting players is 33 year old Brad Ziegler who pitched 73 innings in 78 games in 2013 for Arizona. I know. I looked it up. I had to. Never heard of him. Ziegler was paid $3.1 million in 2013. For 73 innings. Ziegler is arbitration eligible in 2014. Ziegler is concerned that Peralta will be getting paid too much. Go figure.

Two or more decades ago when players refused to play or were locked out by owners during disputes, some players chose to break with their fellow players and crossed the symbolic picket line. Those players were ostracized, not only by the other players but also by owners in some cases. Team management did not want disloyal players.

So who will be considered disloyal now? Jhonny Peralta or the players who are mouthing off that his situation is unfair? Will vigilante justice rear its ugly head as it did with virtual impunity during the season?

Jhonny Peralta will probably not get much if any rough treatment from the other players and very little from the fans. I doubt even Ziegler will throw at Peralta, Dempster style. Peralta and Nelson Cruz are the only two name players among the dirty dozen who copped pleas and served their 50 game suspensions without appealing. Both Peralta and Cruz were treated like returning heroes by their home town fans after their suspensions had been served.

Right or wrong, Alex Rodriguez was the only suspended player who stood up for himself and fought back. His appeal is still ongoing. Rodriguez has an air about him that irritates some people and his huge Yankee contract magnifies that. Peralta seems more like a working guy ... now working on a $53 million contract.